Suggestions for Posting

Thank-you to all the posters for sharing so many thoughtful messages in the past couple of weeks. We really appreciate the renewed interest in the group.

These are some suggestions for posting on the Sri Chinmoy Inspiration Group. They are not essential, but, they will help make messages easier to read and contribute to a better experience for everyone.

1. Formatting. Some times messages appear with a strange formatting: e.g: 1 word per line. This is related to pasting from an editor such as, Textedit and then pasting into Yahoo. If you preview the message, it looks fine. But, when it is sent line breaks appear after 1 word. It can occur even if you convert the article to plain text.

Solution: If it occurs to your posts, we can only suggest trying a different editor or different size of page. The exact reason for disparities in formatting is hard to identify.

2. Leave Spaces Between Paragraphs. White spaces makes it easier to read. (imagine if this post had no white space at all). For example, look at how easy to read this long post is:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sri_Chinmoy_Inspiration/message/21049

3. Quotes. When adding quotes from the writings of Sri Chinmoy (or other person), please use quote marks and give a weblink to the online source (or book title). For very long passages, it may be better to post an excerpt and link to the full article.

4. Good Grammar and Spelling. If possible use a spell checker, and capitalise letters at the start of sentences. If English is not your first language, do not let this be a barrier to posting. But remember, good grammar and spelling help improve your post. (Sometimes a moderator may correct obvious spelling mistakes to prevent spoiling a good post.)

5. Please sign with your real name at the end of a post. - It is good to know who we are speaking with.

6. Personal message to other people can sometimes be inspiring for everyone. But also, if want to say something specific to just one person, there may be better methods than posting on an open forum.

7. If you want to reply to a post. Press reply, rather than starting a new post. Otherwise your reply may not make much sense - (It is a bit like hearing half a conversation.)

8. To potential new posters, you are most welcome to join the discussion. - It may be helpful to spend some time reading other messages to get a feel for the group. Sometimes on the internet it is appropriate to be cautious in expressing our deepest personal feelings and experiences.

Suggestion: Imagine you are reading out your message to the general public, do you feel comfortable?

9. For a long message it is advisable to save it before posting. Sometimes message have gone astray, or your computers may crash - it would be a shame to lose your article. (Notwithstanding, the problems we can have with text editors)

Many Thanks,

Sri Chinmoy Inspiration Group moderators